UCLA turned the lights out at McHale Center - despite the glare of Whiteout night - with a fast start in Thursday's game with UCLA. The No. 6 Wildcats had specialized in digging huge holes and them mounting successful comebacks. Until the Bruins came to town. AP photo

Pac-12 basketball links for Friday

If it was a do-or-die, must-win for UCLA, the Bruins picked a good time to "look perfect'' as Bill Walton noted on the ESPN2 telecast.

This was a game the young UCLA Bruins seemingly had no business winning.

Yet at the end, there was Kyle Anderson trying to give high fives to Arizona students, and finding no takers.

There was Jordan Adams, weary
from two days of illness, bouncing toward the locker room, grinning at
the silence.

There was Shabazz Muhammad having the last laugh, as the student section at McKale Center left
behind the placards personally addressed to him — some funny, some not.

Freshmen having fun.

The 84-73 victory over sixth-ranked Arizona on Thursday probably won't sink in for a bit, at least with UCLA's freshmen. But this was big, especially coming off a home loss to Oregon. It kept the Bruins a game behind the Ducks in the Pac-12 standings.

The Bruins left Tucson with a victory for the first time since 2008, the
last time they won the conference title, by beating a team that had a
44-2 home record the last two-plus seasons.